the Eastern islands to Australia, we observe a gradual religious decadence, until
the depth of barbarism is reached in the wretched aboriginal tribes of the great
“island continent.” The Aruans have no idea of a heaven or a hell; no sense of
any “world beyond the grave,” but their funeral rites are conducted on an
extensive scale.
When an Aruan dies, his kinsmen at once assemble and destroy all the goods and
chattels he has accumulated during his lifetime; breaking even the gongs in
pieces, which are carefully thrown away. The body is next laid out on a small
mat, and propped up against a ladder for three or four days; after which the
relatives again assemble, and apparently to prevent further decay, cover the
exposed parts with lime. Meanwhile the hut is filled with the fumes of burning
dammar or resin, and the guests sit in the perfumed atmosphere drinking large
draughts of arrack, and of a spirit which they contrive to distil from the juice of
some indigenous fruit. The stimulant soon does its work; they give vent to their
feelings in violent shouts, which mingle with the howls and wails of the women
and the hoarse discord of the gongs. Food is offered to the deceased, and the
mouth crammed with various kinds of edibles, rice, and arrack.
By this time all the friends and relatives of the departed have assembled—as at a
Scotch funeral; the body is placed on a kind of bier, which is strewn with
numerous pieces of cloth according to the wealth of the deceased; while large
dishes of China porcelain are set beneath to catch any moisture that may fall
from it. A high value is afterwards set upon these dishes. Being taken out of the
house, the body is supported against a post, and another effort made to induce it
to eat. The hollow jaws are again stuffed with lighted cigars, rice, fruit, and
arrack; and the mourners join in a loud chant, inquiring whether the sleeper will
not awake at the sight of so many friends and fellow-villagers. Alas, the long
slumber continues! The body is again placed upon its bier, which is carried into
the forest, and it is hoisted upon the summit of four posts. A tree, usually the
Pavetta Indica, is then planted near it; and at this final ceremony none, it is said,
but naked women are allowed to be present. This is called the sudah buang, and
signifies that the body is thenceforth abandoned to the silence of the wilderness
as unable any longer to see, hear, think, or feel.
The religion of savage or uncivilised men is, necessarily, coloured and
determined by the natural influences that surround them, and according as they